The present invention relates to a method of supporting a wiring design of a linear structure, such as a wire harness, a supporting apparatus using the method, and a computer-readable recording medium.
A vehicle and the like is mounted with a plurality of electric parts, which are connected together by a so-called wire harness as a linear structure in which a plurality of linear members, such as electric wires, communication wires and the like are bundled in a binding member, such as an insulating lock and the like, and an outer armoring member, such as a tape. As shown in FIG. 1, connectors 2a, 2b, 2c, 2d joined to electric parts and the like are provided at end portions of a wire harness 1. Also, various kinds of clips 3a, 3b, 3c, 3d, and a branch point 4 are provided at intermediate portions of the wire harness. The branch lines of the wire harness 1, which form the sections of the wire harness 1 which extend from the end portions thereof to the branch point 4, have basically different number and kinds of structural filament members. Therefore, the thickness, length, density and the like of the branch lines are various.
The design for wiring such a wire harness in a vehicle and the like has been made in many cases by making calculations by using multipurpose analytic software called CAD (Computer Aided Design) and CAE (Computer Aided Engineering), or on the basis of a designer's experience and perception. However, since a linear structure, such as a wire harness and the like is diverse, merely using the multipurpose analytic software and merely relying upon a designer's experience do not meet the purpose, i.e., it is very difficult to design the linear structure by accurately anticipating the rigidity of the linear structure with respect to the bend and distortion of each portion thereof.
Under the above circumstances, the applicant of the present invention proposed by JP-A-2004-139974 and JP-A-2004-139570, and so forth a method of supporting an optimum wiring design by calculating a predictive shape of a linear structure with the physical property of a linear structure, such as a wire harness, i.e. a material thereof and the rigidity thereof with respect to the bend and distortion of each portion thereof taken into consideration, and by displaying the condition of the linear structure of gradual variation of from an initial shape to a predictive shape thereof, by utilizing a finite element process.
Here, the documents cited in the specification of the present invention will now be shown below.                JP-A-2004-139974        JP-A-2004-139570        “Matrix Finite Element Process” written by B. Nass, published by the Brain Book Publishing Co., Ltd., Aug. 10, 1978, p. 7 to 15.        “Mode Analysis and Dynamic Design” written by Hitohiko Yasuda, issued by the Corona Co., Ltd., Nov. 10, 1993, p. 54 to 56.        
The methods described in JP-A-2004-139974 and JP-A-2004-139570 are extremely excellent in that it is possible to precisely predict and calculate the distortion, stress and reaction which occur when the linear structure is deformed while applying a predetermined force to a predetermined control point or when the control point is forcibly displaced to a predetermined position. Nevertheless, it is found that the methods of JP-A-2004-139974 and JP-A-2004-139570 have room for further improvement.
In the methods of JP-A-2004-139974 and JP-A-2004-139570, what is merely displayed is the reaction or the like, which occur at a predetermined evaluation point in the predictive shape. It is, therefore, necessary to separately evaluate the reaction to be practically determined or the force to be applied. Specifically, it is necessary to separately perform the working improvement considering the reaction and the predictive shape, the mountability evaluation of the support member such as the connector, and the durability evaluation of the support member attached.